Anyway, I definitely did not want to see the True Church end up at odds with the angel race. The reason was simple. After all, I had never believed there was any real god in Edenmere; it was all just the humans of the True Church indulging in wishful thinking. Their whole "welcoming the Lord's return" plan was completely meaningless and would only create more trouble, even further undermining the angels' confidence in sending troops to aid humanity.
In fact, this misunderstanding between the two sides had never been resolved even after thousands of years. Elara had publicly declared many times that no "Lord" of the True Church existed in Edenmere, but each time the Church twisted her words with various excuses. In the current situation, trying to clarify things at the source was simply impossible.
Thinking back, the previous Pope was indeed much more reassuring. Although Cysper held essentially the same view, thanks to his easygoing nature and willingness to let bygones be bygones as he continued to adhere to the "Lord's will," he never took any aggressive measures. For years he refrained from actively trying to break the stalemate by demanding that the angel race hand over their "Lord."
Now the new Pope had just taken office, and it's understandable that he's eager to make some great achievement. However, turning around and using the angel race as the target for his grand plans is truly cause for concern.
No matter what, I stand firmly on Edenmere's side. Let's not forget that Cysper helped me a lot back then, and I definitely don't want any conflict with his successor! Even more so because it would ruin the hard-won progress in establishing friendly ties with the angel race.
After mulling it over, I realized that even though I'm much stronger than I was before, there are still many things I can't change. I can only silently hope that day never comes.
"Stop worrying so much, and remember, things haven't gotten that far yet. At least up to now, the True Church and Edenmere still maintain a very friendly relationship on the surface. Otherwise, how could Lady Elara possibly be making such a high-profile visit to the Kingdom of Astralrealm?"
As we left Vivianne's house after some pleasantries, Adrian noticed the anxious look on my face and couldn't help but reassure me. He had a point — King Galahad of the Astralrealm Kingdom has always been one of the Church's high-ranking members. If the two sides had already fallen out, Elara definitely wouldn't still be here now.
"Exactly. That rumor about the True Church possibly clashing with the angels is nothing more than speculation overheard by some outsider eavesdropping on a private conversation among the Church's top brass. It's completely unreliable and not worth taking seriously at all!" Cyrae immediately agreed and helped us analyze the matter, drawing on Elara's past experiences. Then, after casting a glance at the invitation in my hand, Cyrae suddenly asked pointedly, "So? Have you decided if you're going to attend their wedding?"
It felt a bit unbelievable — everything seemed so fast — but Ron and Vivianne had indeed reached the point of getting married. Perhaps eager to move on quickly from the shadow of her previous relationship, Vivianne had personally delivered a few wedding invitations to me, Adrian, and Cyrae. The time and place were set for this day next month at Patington Cathedral.
"Go? Of course I'm going!"
A close friend's wedding was certainly not something I would miss. However, at the moment there was another trial we had to face immediately, leaving us with little time or energy to even think about an event a month away: Adrian's plan on this trip to formally propose to me in front of Elara.
Before returning to Norvale, I had already made up my mind. Even if the angel race ultimately refused Adrian's request for marriage, I would not give up on being with him. After all, Adrian and I have already been through life-and-death situations together multiple times. The feelings we've built up give me no doubt about taking this step toward marriage. Besides, I now have more than enough confidence that I won't end up letting Adrian down.
It's just that, since arriving in this world, Elara had always taken great care of me, so I was especially reluctant to sour Edenmere's relationship with me because of this. No matter what, if we could resolve this matter through proper channels, that would naturally be the best outcome.
"Stop! Do you know where you are? This place is the royal castle's restricted area. No ordinary people are allowed to approach without permission!"
By now I was quite familiar with the path into Norvale's royal castle. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived at the main gate, a few guards rudely barred our way. But when they saw the angelic wings unfurling behind me, they immediately realized who we were. In an instant, their previously arrogant attitude vanished, and they respectfully stepped aside to clear the path.
"Welcome back, Honored Angel!"
In fact, a number of angels had already been staying here at the King's invitation for quite some time, so these ordinary kingdom soldiers had long since gotten used to it. It was nothing like the first time, when they reacted with such shock and alarm.
After we easily entered the castle, we took a familiar magical elevator ride up to the core area on the top floor. Thanks to the imposing sight of the wings on my back, the three of us had absolutely no difficulty finding out where Elara's temporary office was. Someone promptly went in to announce our arrival, and the message that came back was that I should go in alone to meet her first.
"I'm back..."
Honestly, I couldn't even remember how long it had been since I last saw her. I gently pushed open the door and walked into Elara's office, expecting she might immediately rush over with all sorts of questions, or even scold me for being away from Edenmere for so long. To my surprise, she remained bent over her desk, engrossed in writing documents.
"Uh..."
For a moment I wasn't sure how to continue. As the queen of the angels, it wasn't unusual to find her so busy. But on second thought, I realized that what felt like a very long time to me was only because Adrian and I had spent over a year looping inside that trial space. In reality, less than a year had passed outside. That length of time was well within the normal range for many angels on extended missions. And besides, we hadn't exactly fallen out of touch either, since we did communicate from time to time. No wonder Elara was so calm about it.
"I already heard from others that when you returned from the other world you actually ascended to Ten Wings. It seems my eye for talent was right after all!"
To my surprise, she put down her pen and raised her head—the very first thing she brought up was my rank. She stood up and looked me up and down once, then suddenly remembered to ask about the reason I left. "So, how was it? At the Alliance of Sages, did you discover the connection between yourself and the Water Angel?"
"Ah! Well... kind of, just a little bit..."
Looking back, Elara herself was the first to suggest that theory about me. Although what happened in between was rather convoluted, I still had to give her a brief rundown of my situation.
"I see! So an incomplete soul due to missing pieces, and even two souls merging together — all of that happened in one person? I never imagined that such a thing had occurred with Lord Water Angel... Not even the highest-level magic of our angel race can achieve something like that. It's practically unheard of throughout the ages!"
After hearing the whole story, even Elara couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. However, all those events took place nearly ten millennia ago, and she soon pulled her thoughts back to the present. Once again, she asked about what concerned her most: how things were going with Nicola.
Ever since realizing she had been used, Nicola had angrily cut off all contact with Edenmere. Even so, Elara couldn't possibly ignore the safety of this reincarnation of the First Ancestor. Each time, she could only get a few scraps of information about Nicola through me.
"She's still the same as ever, but I suspect that lately her resentment toward you has lessened quite a bit."
I wasn't sure what that girl discovered after tailing the System Squad when they left. But considering that Wind Angel Reina's memories were gradually resurfacing within Nicola, I could clearly feel that Nicola's personality was changing a little as well. At the very least, she wasn't as impulsive and overbearing as before in how she dealt with people. So I took it upon myself to give Elara a bit of reassurance.
"Really? That's wonderful! I just hope that if she has to blame someone, she only blames me and doesn't implicate the entire angel race..."
Sure enough, as soon as she heard that, Elara's mood brightened considerably. Taking advantage of that momentum, I was about to bring up the matter regarding Adrian in one go, but unexpectedly her eyes flicked downward and noticed something. She actually beat me to it by asking, "That necklace was a gift from him, wasn't it?"
It turned out the "Soul Light Necklace" hanging around my neck had caught her attention. Adrian had spent a fortune on it at a rare goods exposition to give it to me as a present, so of course I treasured it dearly. I quickly took it off and, along with the instruction booklet I'd kept, handed it to her while explaining, "It's said to be a very rare ancient relic. Adrian mainly bought it for me because he was worried about my safety. As for whether it really works as claimed... I'm not entirely sure!"
In truth, the Soul Light Necklace looked just like an ordinary stone. Given that Elara was the Angel Queen and had seen countless rare treasures over the years, even after examining it for quite a while she still couldn't discern anything particularly special about it. She couldn't help questioning skeptically, "Although this thing does seem to contain some strange power, there are just far too many fakes in the human world. Many so-called ancient relics are nothing more than gimmicks! Are you sure it can truly save your life?"
Whether the stone was genuine or not didn't really matter to me, because it was a gift from Adrian — and that reason alone was enough! This made it clear that despite living for thousands of years, Elara was still basically clueless when it came to personal feelings.
I was just about to explain that to her, but at that very moment the office door suddenly burst open. Apparently, Adrian had been eavesdropping outside the whole time, though he hadn't caught everything clearly. He rushed in with an anxious expression and blurted out loudly in defense, "Your Majesty, please believe me. Whether the necklace is genuine or not doesn't mean anything. No matter what, my feelings for Feliciana are absolutely sincere. So please, grant your consent to our marriage!"来源